Avengers - Brothers in arms
by Sam94
Summary: Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way.
1. Chapter 1

It was ice-cold. Since hours Jeremy already stood in this cold and waited for the target to show himself. His mission was a Russian black market dealer called Roskow, who managed to steal and sell some of Shield most secret data to their greatest enemies.

For at least one week Jeremy had pursued him straight through Kazakhstan to Astana, always waiting for an opportunity to take him out. Roskow made his way into a warehouse, on whose roof he was now waiting.

Although this was part of the training he was getting from Shield, It was difficult for him to just wait. Even though he was officially a Shield agent, in his geart he was still a marine, and as a marine he never had to wait for a fight.

To his luck had the wait an end, because right now Roscow left the building together with his bodyguard and went into a side street. That was Jeremy's chance. As fast as he could, he slid down the fire escape and land down on the ground with astonishing tendencies.

As quietly as he could, he crept into the alley and used every possibility to escape the inspecting eyes of the bodyguard. Jeremy had to find a way to take out both of them without anyone noticing.

Jeremy was about to develop a plan as he saw a shadow disappear behind a doorway.

It did not need any shield training so Jeremy knew that someone was sneaking up on him. If that was one of Roskows men, he had to take him out fastly before he could screw up this Mission.

So with a few fast steps Jeremy hid behind a doorway to wait. His persuer seemed to notice Jeremys vanishing and hurried up to catch up with him.

Jeremy only waited for this. In the moment his persuer passed him, he grabbed his leg with one hand and brought him to the ground with his other arm, where he held him by the shoulders.

What he had not expected was to see a known red-haired woman under the hood.

„Tasha?"

Using his moment of surprise Natasha managed to push him on his back himself, where she held him by his arms.

„What did I teach about distractions, Cutie?" she asked before kissng his cheek, making him blush immediately. She loved to make him nervous.

Jeremy needed a moment before he realised that she was about to screw up his Mission.

„Natasha, what are you doing here?"

Natasha released his arms and helped him up

„We have a problem, you need to come back with me"

„What is so important"

„Your brother is in trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

Shield's Helicarrier was almost like Jeremy's second home when he was not staying with Clint and the kids. Although he did not like to fly in general he had always felt comfortable here.

"Jeremy" Natasha touched his shoulder so he looked at her.

"We arrived."

Before Natashas got him from Russia she picked up a special guest: Bruce Banner, another candidate for Furys Avengers program.

xxx

Immediately after the landing Jeremy made his way to Fury. He wanted to know what exactly happened to Clint.

"Director" Jere found him on the Bridge where he was speaking to agent Hill.

"Corporal Barton" Fury greeted with a nod before sending Maria away.

"Did Romanoff bring ?"

"Yes Sir... but thats not why I'm here." Jeremy had a lot of respect for Fury, that's why didn't want to be to be too harsh to him.

"You want to know what happened with your brother right?"

You told Jeremy to sit down before sitting across from him.

"What I'm gonna tel lyou now is above your security Level, you are not gonna speak with anyone about it. Is that clear?"

For Jeremy that was no surprise. On their way here, Natasha also didn't want to tell him to much.

"Yes Sir" Jeremy assured him "You can trust me."

So Fury told him everything about the Tesseract and Lokis control over Clint.

Jeremy leaned back in his chair and tried to process everything. This was all kinda crazy.

"How do we find my brother?" Jere asked after a second.

Nick Fury got up and pointed to the bridge.

"We're sweeping every camera on the planet, once loki shows up somewhere we will know."

Jeremy opened his mouth to ask another question but the Arrival of Natasha and her Company kept him from doing so. The reason was simple. Beside Natasha stood Steve Rogers. Even among the Marines the man was a legend. As a child that man has always been his hero. At the Moment however Steve was too mch surprised by the helicarrier so that he didn't noticed Jeremy starring.

Natasha noticed it anyway and shook her head with a smile. Sometimes Jeremy was like a little kid. Kinda cute.

To stop his starring she briefly touched his shoulder and then led him over to Steve.

"Captain" she said to get the soldiers attention.

"This is Corporal Barton"

"Corporal? from the Army?" asked Steve while shaking Jeremys Hand.

"Marines Sir"

Before the two could talk any further hey were interrupted by Fury.

"Romanoff, Show Banner his Labor and Barton give Rogers a tour."

xxx

"How often you've been overseas" asked Steve while taking a look at the armory.

"Three time in Afghanistan sir" Jeremy answered quickly. He didn't like to talk about it.

During the next hour Steve askedd a few more questions to which Jere always answered quickly and short. The Captain notice that the Young Marine wasn't much of a talker.

Before Steve could ask his next questions they were interrupted by Natasha.

"We got him"

xxx

An hour later they were in a Quinjet on the way to Stuttgart. Jeremy was in the back and made himself ready. He holstered his guns and strapped his sword on his back. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use neither. While Steve took care of Loki, he wanted to confront Clint. Even though he was under Lokis control, he might react positively to his brother.

"Jeremy we identified Clint he is on his way out." Nat told him through the Radio.

Jeremy went to meet him.

"What about Loki"

"We got him. Take care of your brother."

Clint was on the way out of the Building when he saw his brother running towards him.

It terrified Jeremy to see his brother likes this. His eyes glued in a blue shine. You could definetely see Lokis Control over him.

Jeremy raised his Hands and walked slowly to him.

"Are you alright hawk?"

Clint turned his head and looked like he wouldn'nt understand a word, not even the nickname Jeremy gave him as a child.

"I don't know what he did to you. But if you come with me I'm sure we can handle that."

Clint took Jeremy outstretchted Hand and for a Moment he ssemed like his old self. But from one Moment to the next he twisted Jeremy arm painfully and kicked his legs so that he fall on the ground. Not enough he hit Jeremy hard in the face before walking ahead. What he didn't exspect was to get kicked in his kneecap, making him stumble unto his knees. A second later Jeremys arm was already around Clints neck. clint reacted fastly by hitting him in his face, before drawing a knife to cut Jeremys leg. Jeremy who couldn't move because of that, watched his brother escape into a Helicopter.


	3. Chapter 3

At least the others captured Loki, was Jeremys first thought as he was back in the quinjet on the way to shield. With his sword in his lap, over which he stroked thoughtfully, he thought about how to tell Laura about all this.

He loved Laura like a sister. She and Clint looked after him after his mother passed away. They were his Family. He owed her to bring him back. Jeremys thoughts were interrupted by a Vibration running through the quinjet. The Vibration recurred and Jeremy realised that something hit the quinjet.

Just as he was getting up, the rear flap opened, and Thor, an Alien from the world Asgard jump in. Jeremy read some files about him from Shield databases. Before anyone could react, he hit down Stark and disappeared with loki as his prisoner.

"Stark" Steve tried to stop the billionaire but he already chased after Thor. Jeremy immediately put on a parachute before handing Steve another one.

"I'd sit this one out Boys"

Jeremy ignored Natashas warning and jumped out of the plane followed by Steve. Immediately after the landing he saw Tony and Thor facing each other on a Clearing facing each other.

Without thinking Jeremy jumped at Thor and manage to put him on the ground. Only a second later he was already on his feet, with his sword aimed at Thor.

"Put down the hammer."

Steve was Standing a few meters behind Jeremy. Thor looked between the two before speaking.

"You want me to put down that hammer."

In a Flash, he pushed Jeremy aside and jumped at Steve. He blocked Thors hammer with his shield, but the massive shock wave pushd everyone back a few meters.

Jeremy hit his head on a Stone. He heard Steve call his name before losing consciousness.

xxx

 _Afghanistan, 3 yrs ago._

 _"Barton"_

 _Jeremy tried to understand the words of his Sergeants in spite of the noise and the sound of the shots around him._

 _"Get back to the radio. Report that we are attacked by unknown Forces and ask where the hell that backup is."_

 _Unknown, that word was a too simple description. In one Moment they were on a simple patrol and in the next one they were attacked by some Kind of futuristic energy weapons. Jeremy never saw something like that before._

 _With his head down to avoid the shots, Jeremy made his way back to the vehicles as fast as he could. He nearly managed to reach the humvee before a huge energy projectile hit the humvees fuel tank. The following Explosion pushed Jeremy very hard on the ground where he laid still._

 _He tried to get up immediately, but the pain that running through his body prevented him from that. He percived nothing until some footsteps were coming closer to him._

 _Jeremy turned his head to the side and noticed a tall man coming towards him. In his right Hand was a sword which he now lifted to bring it down on Jeremy. Fastly Jeremy brought up his rifle and blocked the hit. While Holding his gun with one hand Jere grabbed his knife with the other and pushed it into his opponents chest._

 _Defeated the man fell on the ground beside Jeremy. His comrades who did'nt like that at all, moved into Jeremys direction. But before hey reached him, they heard the distant sound of choppers heading their way._

 _xxx_

With a gasp Jeremy opened his eyes. He knew were he was. The infirmary on the helicarrier. The others ust have brought him back. A hand on his shoulder made him look to the side where Natasha smiled at him.

"Hey Cutie. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good"

He smiled at her and tried to sit up but Natasha pushed him down gently.

"Not yet, the doc still Needs to say it's ok"

She started to stroke his hair lightly and Jere closed his eyes to enjoy that for a moment. Sometimes it just felt great when she touched him.

"What did you dream about?"

That question surprised Jeremy.

"How do you know I dreamed"

"You spoke in your sleep and you shivered. Was it about Afghanistan?"

Natasha noticed how ho lowered his head and plaed with his fngers. He did that every time someone asked him about Afghanistan.

"No it wasn't that bad. Did you find out what Loki is planning?"

Even though she knew he was avoiding her she answered him:

"We go to him at once. I have an idea."

xxx

After the doctor gave Jeremy his ok, he and Nat made their way to Lokis cell. It was to make a show in front of him to get him to reveal his plan.

While Natasha entered the room while Jeremy stayed in hidden the shadows.

"There's not many people that can sneak up on me."

"But you figured I'd come"

"After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton."

"I'd say I've expanded his mind"

"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Do you ask becase of him, or because of his little brother?"Loki asked her with an evil smile.

"Barton already said that you are always trying to protect him. Is this love Agent Romanoff?"

Natasha clenched her fists and tried to stay calm. She didn't like at all when someone threatens Jeremy.

"Love is for children. I owe him"

Loki sat down and looked at her questioningly.

"So tell me."

"Before I worked for Shield I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for.

I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agnet Barton was sent to kill me. But he made a different call."

"And what will you do if I spare him?" Loki asked her amused.

"Not let you go"

"I like this. Your world in balance and you bargain for one man."

Loki stood up and hammered against the glass.

"I won't touch Barton not until I made him kill you, or better I let him kill his brother right in front of you.

Then he'll wake just long enough to see what he's done and then I'll split his skull."

"You are a monster"

"You brought the monster here."

Jeremy had to smile. She did it.

"So Banner that's your plan"

Natasha turned around and made her way out. On the way she took Jeremys arm.

"We gotta get to Banner"


	4. Chapter 4

Two minutes later they had found Thor and entered Banners laboratory together. They were immediately addressed by Banner.

"Did you two know about this?"

He pointed to a screen showing a weapon sketch. This was what fury was planning to do with the tessaract: to build weapons. What was more interesting to Jeremy however, was the weapon which lay on the table in front of Steve. It was the same kind of weapon the men in Afghanistan used to attack his platoon. He was so lost in his thoughts, he did not notice how the others continued their argument. At least not until he saw that Banner was taking the scepter into his hand.

"Dr Banner" Jeremy said slowly.

"Put that down."

Startled Dr. Banner looked into his hand. He din't even notice that he took it. A tone from the computer made him put it down.

"Did you find the tessaract. Where is he" The Captain immediately asked.

"He is here."

Before anyone could ask what he meant, a big explosion rocked the helicarrier. A big hole was torn into the floor of the lab and Nat fall down with Banner.

xxx

"Nat?Nat do you read?"

Jeremy tried to contact Natasha for the last five minutes with no responding.

"Corporal" Fury stood beside him and touched his shoulder

"Get to the turbine. Rogers will need your help."

"What about Natasha and Banner?" Jere asked worried.

"She can manage it. Go!"

Reluctanly Jeremy stood up and made his way to the turbine. He immediately spotted two men sneaking onto Steve without him noticing. Before either one of them could start an attack, Jeremy pushed the first one from the platform and stabbed his sword throught the chest of the second one.

"Are you alright, Captain? Jeremy asked the soldier while picking up a rifle.

"Yes. Look out!" Steve pushed Jere aside before as another attacker nearly shot him. The man started to shoot at Steve who jumped on a higher platform.

"Cap heads up" Jeremy said and throws the rifle to Steve who immeditely started shooting. Unfortunately, the shooting pushed him of the platform.

Jeremy tried to come to his aid, but was hit in the head by a rifle. Pain ran through his body while he rolled on his back. The man who hit him bent over him and pushed his rifle down on Jeremys throat. Jeremy desperately tried to push the man of him, so he could get enough air into his lungs again. Because of his failure to do so, his vision started to blur. just a second before he lost consciousness something red flew above him and freed him from his enemy. Jeremy turned to his side and began to cough. He stopped when a hand was stretched into his face.

"You alright, marine?" Rogers asked while helping him up.

"Yes I'm good Captain. Call me Jeremy please."

"Than call me Steve."

xxx

While Jeremy was busy at the turbine, Natasha fought Clint and overpowered him. They were both now in one of the quarters where she strapped him to a bed.

"Jere"

Natasha stood up from her chair beside Clints bed to greet him.

"How is he, Nat?

"He is still unconsciousness, but the doctors said he should wake up soon."

Jeremy notice how pale she looked and that her hands were shivering.

"Are you allright Nat?"

"Yes" she answered him while trying to avoid his eyes. Jere knew she did'nt want to talk about it now, so instead of asking he just put his arms around her and pulled her into him.

Natashas tension eased away after a moment and she lay her head on his shoulder. Thats why she liked Jeremy. He never forced her to talk. He was just there for her.

"Coulson is dead" Natasha said after a few more minutes of silence.

Even though Jere barely knew him, he knew that he was a good friend to Clint and Natasha.

"Natasha" Clint voice interrupted them, so they let go of each other.

"Clint?" Natasha sat back down at his bed. "You are gonna be okay."

"You know that? Is that what you know? I got...I gotta go in though. I gotta flush him out."

"We don't have that long, it's gonna take time." Jeremy says, standing beside Natasha.

"God, Jeremy."Clint says, remembering their fight in Stuttgart. "Did I beat you up"?

Jeremy just smiled at him. "Wouldn't be the first time." Even Clint couldn't hold his laugh at this.

"You don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?" Clint asked them both.

"You know that I do" Natasha replied sounding serious.

Clint felt bad because he made her remember so he quickly changed the subject.

"How did you get him out?"

"Cognitive recalibration" she answered. Because of Clint questioning look Jeremy added "She hit you hard in the head."

"How many agents did I.." Clint started but was quickly interrupted by his brother "Don't do that. It was Loki not you. This is something we weren't trained for."

"Where is Loki now?"

"Gone" Jeremy explained him. "But we will stop him."

"Who is we?" Clint asked

Natasha, who was standing in front of the door now answered "Everyone who's left."

"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eyesocket, I'd sleep better I suppose."

"Now you sound like you" Jeremy said hitting him lightly in the shoulder.

"But you don't. You are not a marine anymore, yet you still want to wade into war. I don't want you to go through that again"

Jeremy could remember exactly how little enthusiastic Clint was when Jeremy returned from Afghanistan. he spent days in the hospital refusing to leave his brothers side. To Clnt Jeremy was still his little brother.

"What did Loki do to you?"

Jeremy lowered his head on this question and Clint noticed Natasha looking at him. Now he understood. It wasn't something Loki did to Jeremy. After a moment of silence, Natasha excused herself to the bathroom.

Just after she closed the Clint smiled at him

"You still got it bad for her don't you?"

Jeremy face turned a little bit red before he answered.

"We are just friends."

Clint smiled only wider.

"How you two were cuddling when I woke up didn't really look like 'Just friends'."

"She was just sad and I tried to comfort her."

"You still don't realise that you are the only one who is allowed to comfort her when she is sad. She would rip every other guys head off. Including mine."

"Still their is nothing between me and her. It can't. I'm not her type."

Clint shook his head and sat up on the bed.

"You still think you are not good enough for her. You need more self-confidence. Nat really likes you. I'm her best friend, I can tell. You just need to take the first step."

Before Jeremy could answer to that the door opened and Steve walked in

"Can one of you fly one of these quinjets?"

"I can" Clint told him.

Steve looked to Jeremy who nods his head.

"Then suit up."


	5. Chapter 5

"Did you know about Furys plans with the tesseract, Jeremy?"

Steve asked him while they put on their equipment.

"No" his answer came fast without hesitation.

"Doesn't it bother you. That he keeps so much secrets from you?"

"I trust Fury" Jeremy explained him. "He tells me what I need to know."

Steve, who placed his shield on his arm, turned to Jeremy.

"You never have doubts that it's right?"

Jere shouldered his sword and looked at Steve

"We are both soldiers. We have the duty to follow our orders, but that doesn't work if we don't trust eachother. I trust Fury that his motives are right and he must be able to trust us to follow his orders."

Even though Steve didn't say any more words, Jeremy sensed that he understood.

A moment later Natasha joined them in the room.

"Boys we're ready."

xxx

After a few moments they were all heading to the quinjet.

As they stepped on board a young man who was working and tried to stop them by saying

"Hey, you aren't authorised to be in here"

Rogers just held his hand up

"Son, just don't"

Immediately after the man left, the doors closed and he jet got into the air, following after Iron man who went ahead.

It took them a few minutes to reach the city. Jeremy looked out the window and felt his breathing pick up. All of this war reminded him of the hell that was his last tour in Afghanistan.

Natasha called Stark to tell him that they were approaching before she turned around and noticed Jeremys intense staring.

"Jeremy" Natasha tried to get his attention. He didn't react.

"Jere, Cutie"

Jeremy reacted to the nickname she uses for him and looked at her.

"Are you allright?" she asked

"Yeah of course." he tried to convince her, which she saw through.

"Did Stark already answer?"

Before Natasha could reply Tonys voice came through the radio

"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up PARK, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Nat followed his instructions to meet him and shot down a bunch of Aliens following him.

The Quinjet flew up the way to the stark tower to approach Loki. He was fighting his brother Thor. Natasha fired at Loki, but it didn't seem to bother him much as he just fired back. The energy hit the right engine making it explode. The quinjet couldn't hold itself in the air and began to sink down fast. Steve and Jeremy were thrown against the back wall just as the jet crashed.

The four got out of the broken jet and ran over the street, back to the Stark tower. They continued running until they heard a loud growl comming from the sky. looking up they saw a big mechanical crerature emerging from the sky.

"Stark you see this"

Before he could respond a group of ships started shooting at the group. The four of them hid behind a taxi, from where they looked down the bridge.

"They are civilians down there." Rogers said but before he could continue an alien using an energy gun shoot at him.

Natasha and Jeremy responded by starting to shoot at them.

"We got this Cap. go"

Steve looked over at Clint "You think you can hold them off?"

"Captain" Clint said while readying his arrows, "it would be my pleasure."

With that he stood up and shot an arrow into the next aliens head.

Natash and Jeremy stood side by side, shooting at the aliens to clear a path for Rogers.

Looking to the right Jeremy saw a group of Aliens sneaking up on Clint who was helping people out of the bus. With a quick move Jere took out his sword and jumped over the cars. With a few quick moves he chopped off the aliens heads before throwing his sword into the last one just in front of Clint.

Clint looked stunned for a moment before pointing at his brothers sword.

"Glad you decided to keep this."

Turning back to Nat they took cover behind a car while they continued shooting.

"Just like Budapest all over again" Natasha brought up

"You and I remember it very differently."

"Are you ever gonna tell me what happened there?" Jeremy Asked them.

Clint released an arrow before ruffling his brothers hair.

"One day kid."

They kept up the fight for a moment before suddenly a few lightnings errupted from the sky shot by Thor.

"Whats the story upstairs?" Steve asked the asgardian.

"The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

Over the com-link, Tony said, "Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys."

"How do we do that?" Jere asked.

"As a team."

Thor then cut in, "I have unfinished business with Loki."

"Yeah?" Clint asked, while fixing his arrows, "Well, get in line."

"Save it." Captain ordered, "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these thing's could run wide. We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to-" Steve had started but was cut of by a sound of an old engine behind him.

Everybody looked that direction. It was Banner. He got of the bike and approached the others.

"That all seems horrible" He said looking at the sky.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said looking at Banner. Jeremy who stood beside her lightly took her hand and she immediately laced her fingers with his.

"I'm sorry"Banner said looking guilty at her.

"Actually doc" Jeremy spoke. "We could use a little worse."

"If Banner is there." Tony asked over the com. "Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

As soon as he finished, Iron Man flew around the side of a building, and following him was one of though huge creature.

"I don't see how that's a party."

As Tony flew over there heads, Bruce turned around and stepped towards the creature coming straight to them.

"This would be a good time to get angry dr." Steve told Bruce.

"That's my secret. I'm always angry." And with that, Bruce skin turned green and he let the Hulk take control. As the creature was close enough Hulk punched directly in the face. Because of the force of this hit the creature started to topple over. Before it complete turned upside down Iron man flew over their head and fire a missle into the creatures neck.

The creatures body exploded in a fireball and it fell to the site of the street.

Before anyone could celebrate this little victory several other creatures emerged from the wormhole.

"Call it, Captain."

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three block out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Can you give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony. "Right. Better clench up, Legolas."

Before they took off Clint ruffled his brothers hair again.

"Keep you head down marine."

And with that the two took off.

"Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up. Jeremy, I need you to get up with him and keep Loki occupied."

Before Thore grabbed Jeremy Natasha took his face and placed a kiss on hiss cheek.

"Don't die up there cutie."

Jere turned red and tried to think of something to say. He opened his mouth but was grabbed by Thor who flew of with him.


	6. Chapter 6

"Barton I let go of you now." Thor warned him before setting Jeremy down on the platform of stark Tower. Getting up Jeremy walks past the shattered glass into the Tower. He immediately spotted Loki standing behind the bar making himself a Drink.

"I was hoping to meet you." Loki said pointing his scepter at Jeremy.

"Your brother told me about you. About Afghanistan."

Loki put the glass down an pointed his scepter at Jeremy.

"He said you felt responsible that all your comrades died that day, while only you survived."

Jeremy pulled out his sword, aiming it at Loki.

"Must be hard. Living with that guilt every day, feeling it eating you up from the inside."

Jeremy swung his sword at Loki who blocked it with his scepter.

"If you ask me. I think you are right. It was your fault."

Distracting Jeremy by making him angry, Loki punched him in the face and flipped him over his shoulder. Before he could finish Jeremy off with his scepter he kicked loki in the gut and rolled to the side picking up his sword in the process. Both men hold up their weapon started to send one blow after another unto his opponent.

Loki caught Jeremys sword in his hand while Jere did the same with the sceptre.

"It's funny about what kind of things humans feel guilty. A few lives of a billions are taken and that's enough to haunt you for years." Loki spat at Jeremy smiling.

"Don't talk about them."

Jeremy put his head back then hit Loki as hard as he could in his face. Loki answered by stabbing a knife into Jeremys already injured leg. A second later Loki infront of Jeremy pointing his sceptre at him.

"Don't worry I'll make sure you see them again."

What he didn't exspect from Jeremy now was the sword flying into his direction. Loki blocked the word sending it away but Jeremy was already on his feet. he ran at Loki and pulled him down on the Floor, where he started to throw one Punch after another into lokis face.

He only stopped beacuse of a noise comin out of his earpiece.

" _Jeremy, this is Natasha. I need Lokis sceptre. Bring it to the Roof."_

Jeremy let go of Loki and walked up to the rooftop.

"Jeremy, thank god" Nat imediately took the sceptre from Jeremy s Hands before standing still, looking at his bruised hands.

"What happened there?" she asked.

"Nothing. Can you close it?" Jeremy asked pointing to the sky.

"Maybe, if this works"

Natasha walked over to the device and on Selvidges instructions, pointed the sceptre at the centre of the tesseract.

"I can close the portal. Can anyone hear me?" she asked over the radio.

"Do it." Steve ordered over the radio.

"Wait!" Stark interrupted.

"These things are still coming."

"There's a nuke coming in. I got to put it somewhere safe."

With that Iron man took the nuke and maneuvered it into the Portal.

Everybody hold their breaths while waiting for his return.

After what seemed like an eternity Steve spoke over the Radio again

"Close it"

Natasha looked at Jeremy who nodded to her before driving the sceptre into the tesseract, closing the portal slowly. Before it completely closed soething fall out of it very slowly.

"Stark" Jeremy pointed at the sky. "He made it"

Tony was getting much more Speed on his way down. Before he crashed on the ground, the Hulk jumped in and caught him before his fall.

" _He is okay_." Cap told them a moment later.

" _We got to take care of Loki now_."

Loki laid on the ground, face down, as the Avengers approached him.

"If It's ok. I'll have that drink now" he said looking at them. Before anyone could react, Jeremy stepped forward and hit Loki in the face, knocking him out cold.

xxx

Later that day everyone gathered as Thor was taking Loki back to Asgaard, where he would be punished.

Jeremy watched as Loki and Thor both put their hands on the tesseract and disappeared. He hoped whereever they go now, Loki would pay for everything he did.

Everyone said their goodbye to each other as the Avengers seperated, knowing their woud come together again, if the world needs them.

"You know, I have worked with some marines during the war." Steve said as he shook Jeremys Hands. "But None of them impressed as much you did today."

With that he took of on his bike leaving only him, Natasha and Clint behind.

"Ok Guys" Clint said Walking to his car. "Let's go home."

Jeremy made his way to join him but was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

 _'Corporal. I have Information you need to hear.'_

"Jere, everything allright?"

Jeremy looked up from his phone

"Yeah, Fury wants to see me. I'll join you guys later."

xxx

A few minues later Jeremy entered the directors Office, where Fury waited for him.

"Corporal, I have some Information you might want to hear."

"What kind of Information?"

Fury sat down at his desk and placed bis hand on a folder.

"You recognized the weapons Rogers stole form the locker right?"

Jeremy nod his head.

"The group that attacked us in Afghanistan used them. So they were Hydra."

Fury just shook his head.

"Hydra is gone since world war two. These people are something else."

He stood up and handed Jeremy a folder.

"That is everything we have on them. We have permission to start an operation against these group. Let me know if you wanna be in it."

xxx

That evening Jeremy sat with Nat outside the farm house. It was some kind of ritual for them, to sit their everytime both of them were on the farm, and drink wodka. Well more like Natasha seduced Jeremy long enough to get him to drink.

"Still beautiful isn't it." Natasha said, taking another sip of her bottle.

"Yeah" Jeremy said also drinking from his bottle.

"And this stuff still taste awful."

Nat just shook her head amused and leaned back against the wall.

"So what did Fury want from you?" Natasha asked while laying her head against his upper arm.

"It...it was nothing" he assured her nervously.

Natasha hit his arm lightly.

"You know you can't lie to me. Especially when we are drunk."

Jeremy laughed and took another sip from his bottle, while Nat placed her head on his shoulder.

"Tell me what is it."

"It's about these people in Afghanistan, who attacked us. Fury gave me some Information about them. A possible location."

He felt Nat turn her face into his shoulder.

"So we are going after them" She mumbled.

"We?"Jeremy asked surprised.

In response she lifted her head and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"You didn't think I was gonna let you do this alone right?." she asked and turned her head back into Jeremys shoulder.

xxx

After a few more hours of drinking, Jeremy carried Nat, who was passed out, up to his room. Because of Clint, who decided to spontaneously renovate the guest bedroom, Natasha and Jeremy had to share his old one. Jeremy walked through the door and placed Natasha on his bed. He smiled while he watched her getting comfortable.

With that he turned around to his desk where he placed the folder he got from Fury. Jeremy opened it and started to read. There were tons of Information, about a group of unknown forces seen in different parts of Afghanistan. There was no exact Information about them. No base of operations or the known members of that group. The only interesting thing was, that they were using hydra weapons, probably stolen from Shield and the name this group is calling themselve: Prometheus.


	7. Chapter 7

_First I wanna thank the people for their reviews. It is nice that people take the time to leave a comment. So this is the second part of 'Brothers in arms' and it takes place in Afghanistan_.

 _Three months later_

Without making a single noise, the group of soldiers and agents approached the backside of the building. With Jeremy at the front they positioned themself next to the backdoor.

"Tasha, you ready?" he asked Natasha, who was currently with her team, at the front site of the building.

"We are" she responded. With a sign from Jeremy both teams breached their door to enter the building. The first two guys whio noticed the soldiers didn't have time to react before they were put down. The next one was able to fire a shot, but missed Jeremy who sliced his arm and knocked him out cold. The last guy aimed his rifle at Jeremy, but Natasha quickly jumped on his shoulders and shocked with her wrist. Nat gracefully jumped off the falling man and throw Jeremy smile.

Jeremy who smiled back at her pointed at the upper Floor. While the soldiers stayed on the ground Floor, Jeremy and Natasha took the stairs. Another guy who approached the two at the end of the stairs was immediately greated by Jeremys sword who stabbed it through his chest. The next man, who stood in the middle of the room was attacked by Natasha who punched him hard in the face before stabbing a knife into his head.

"Damn it!" Nat heart Jeremy yell.

"What happened?"

"We are wrong" Jeremy told her, pointing at a bunch of White packets laying on a table.

"Those guys are not Prometheus, they were just drug dealers. We wasted our time." Jere said before punching the door hard.

xxx

Back at the base, Natasha sat at the desk, looking over the old Prometheus file again. For nearly 3 months now, Jeremy and her had been in Afghanistan, searching one hideout after another. Still they never got anything what brought them closer to their target.

Natasha laid the file down and looked over to Jeremys bunk. She placed her chin on her hand and watched her friend a moment. He looked a bit awfull. His face was pale and he had blue bags under his eyes. She didn't like it at all to see him like this. Ever since the two of them were in this place, Jeremy acted like this. He was constantly working to find Prometheus, he never gave himself a rest.

Closing the folder Natasha stood up and walked over to Jeremy.

"You alright cutie?"

Jeremy closed the Laptop he was using and put it on the bedside table.

"Yes, I'm OK" he assured her with tired eyes.

"You don't look so. When was the last time you slept?"

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. "A few days ago."

Nat placed her hand on the back of his head and stroked his hair. She learned from Laura that this would always calm Jeremy down.

"You should sleep."

"I'm not tired Nat" Jeremy replied smiling at her.

Natasha frowned. She already experienced this kind of behavior from him. He always assures everyone he is okay, becasue he thinks he needs to do everything alone. He does that until it gets to much for him.

Natasha continued to stroke his hair for a few minutes, trying to get him to rest, when suddenly Agent Rumlow entered their tent.

"Romanoff. Barton." He said, giving Jeremy name a nerved tone. Natasha didn't know why, but Rumlow and Jeremy just couldn't stand each other.

"Fury is on the com. He has something you need to see."

xxx

"Barton, have you found something usefull on your last trip?" Fury asked over the screen.

"No, Sir" Jeremy replied, shaking his head. "Another dead end."

"Sorry to hear that. But I might have another track for you to follow."

Furys face disappeared from the screen and was replaced by another picture.

"Is that the place your squad was attacked?" Natasha asked from beside Jeremy.

"Yes" Jeremy answered with gritted teeth.

"Why are we looking at this?"

"The surveillance missed this before you got there."

The picture switched and showed the same area but covered in orange and blue. A thermal picture. One string of red took Jeremys interest. It was under the surface, leading away from the terrain.

"What is that sir?"

"We don't know that yet. But I think that's the reason your squad was attacked. You were too close to that tunnel."

"So we need to go there again" Jeremy stated.

xxx

A few minutes later Jeremy , Nat and some soldiers from the base were outside, preparing the humvees.

"Rumlow and his mens are not coming with us"

Natasha told Jeremy while holstering her guns. Jeremy smiled at her when he noticed Rumlow in the background, a bruise formed around his eye.

"Did you hit him?" Jere asked.

"Maybe." Natasha said not looking at him.

Jeremy crossed his arms and gave her a stern look.

"He called you a freak" She finally said.

"He said he doesn't want to risk his life for some 'freaks' vendetta"

"So you hit him because he insulted me?" Jeremy asked with some blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Yes. Nobody calls you a freak on my watch."

With that they both climbed into the humvees which hit the road immediately.

Natasha sitting beside Jeremy, looked at a map of the area they were heading to.

"How long is it gonna take" she asked him.

"6 hours maybe" he answered looking out the window.

"What are you thinking Jere?" she asked looking at him.

"It's just...about what Rumlow said. Sometimes I don't know myself, why I'm looking into this." Jeremy told her.

"When are you doing it?" she asked before laying her head on his shoulder.

"My friends died that day. I just want to know why." He answered before closing his eyes and leaning his head on hers.


End file.
